Spanish Outrage Grows Over Moroccan Official’s Claim on Ceuta and Melilla

Last week, the President of the House of Advisors, the Sahrawi Ennam Mayara, called for "an end to the colonization" of Ceuta and Melilla "through a negotiated solution, without resorting to arms". According to this member of the nationalist Istiqlal (independent) party, who is part of the ruling coalition, "Ceuta and Melilla will not be victims of blackmail". He thus refers to information according to which Rabat had renounced the sovereignty of Ceuta and Melilla in exchange for Madrid’s support for the Moroccan plan for autonomy of the Western Sahara. These remarks have provoked the anger of Madrid.

"Ceuta and Melilla are Spanish; there is nothing more to contest," reacted Margarita Robles, Spanish Minister of Defense with "absolute and full authority" to Europa Press on April 10. Will Madrid ask Morocco for clarification? "No discussion was planned," the official replied.

After the minister’s reaction, it is the turn of the political parties to express their anger. According to the Popular Party, the classic right-wing and leading opposition force in the House of Representatives, Mayara’s remarks are further proof of the "weakness" of the Sanchez government in the face of Morocco "in defending Spanish sovereignty" over the two presidios. "We are very clear. We defend the sovereignty, of course, of Ceuta and Melilla. The Popular Party has always been firm on this issue. It is a totally out of the question issue," said the spokeswoman for the PP parliamentary group, Cuca Gamarra.

Podemos, for its part, called on Spain to take a strong position and defend its sovereignty against a country like Morocco. "Spain must have a strong position and defend its sovereignty against a country like Morocco, not only on the issue of Ceuta and Melilla, but also on an issue like the self-determination of the Sahrawi people," said Javier Sánchez Serna, spokesman for the party. Faced with Morocco, "we believe that Spain must continue to defend its sovereignty but also democracy, human rights and the right to self-determination of the Sahrawi people," he specified.

This is not the first time that a Moroccan official has made such statements. At the end of December 2020, the former head of the Moroccan government, Saadeddine El Othmani, had declared during an interview with the Asharq News channel: "The time will come to address the issue of Sebta and Melilla for which the status quo has lasted five or six centuries. Sebta and Melilla is an issue that must be opened up." Ceuta and Melilla "are Moroccan like the Sahara," he had added.